Rethink grade D7 for university admissions - Yankah

Accra, Sept. 21, GNA - Professor Kwesi Yankah, the Chairman, Council of Independent Universities, has appealed to government to rethink its position on grade D7, which renders Senior High School graduates ineligible to enter university.

He further stressed on the need to find out how many D7 products were currently selling by the streets, adding that, 'several thousands of SHS graduates cannot enter the university merely because they were rendered disqualified by one or two D7 grades instead of credit, on their SHS result slips'.

Prof Yankah made the appeal at the ninth national delegate congress of the Private Universities Students' Association of Ghana (PUSAG) at the Valley View University, Oyibi near Accra.

The congress will see to the election of new national officers to steer the affairs of the association for another academic year.

The five-day congress, themed: 'Raising Critical and Problem Solving Leaders to Impact Generations- the Role of Private Universities', is being attended by delegates from accredited private universities across the country.

'When did D7 become a failed grade, who declared it a failed grade,' the Chairman of the Council of Independent Universities, asked?

He, however, urged the government to take a second look at D7, and remove the stigma and impression of it being a fail.

Professor Yankah proposed that, the worst thing the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) could do is to leave admission of D7 to the discretion of respective universities; after all, D was admissible to the university in the old system.

He, therefore, commended the government's decision to now allow them in polytechnics, but it should be extended to universities; and allow universities exercise their own discretion in respective admission processes, so long as requisite grades obtained were not failed grades.

He noted that, over the past decade, student congresses have moved from raising critical issues about nation building and related matters; into battlegrounds, and instead of seeking student and national welfare, they have become sites for violence and physical welfare.

He said armed security had often been called in to restore peace and order; arrest have been made by the police; students have been detained, whereas, Universities and Parents have often stepped in to release wards from bail and detention, all in the name of a student congress.

Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Education, commended the outgoing PUSAG executives for projecting the genuine concerns in the interest of its members, as well as collaborating with the Ministry to address their challenges.

He said the Student Movement had a great history in Ghana, where students played a vital role in the drafting of the 1992 Constitution, proposed the Students' Loan Trust Fund and the National Service Scheme, among others.

The Deputy Minister on behalf of Government and the Ministry of Education pledged their support to assist the various Student Groups in the country, to achieve their objectives.

Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, Greater Accra Regional Minister in an address read on his behalf by Mr Isaac Nii Djanmah Vanderpuye, Deputy Greater Accra Regional Minister, commended all private universities for their contributions towards the socio- economic and manpower development of the country.

He however, noted that, indiscipline among some youth was a worrying trend, which should seriously engage the attention of guardians, teachers and indeed all stakeholders.

Mr Afotey -Agbo explained that, aside diverting the attention of the students from focusing on learning, they tend to spend time on such practices, which eventually destroys the moral fibre of society.

'We need to wage a relentless crusade to nib these evil practices in the bud so that we can build a society based on very high moral values', he added.

Other activities lined up for the Congress include entrepreneurial seminar, relationship talk, health talk on hepatitis B and cervical cancer and a fitness walk.

GNA